Philadelphia Eagles: Can someone please sign Jay Ajayi already?

After receiving no real interest from NFL teams over the first month of the regular season, can someone please sign ex-Philadelphia Eagles RB Jay Ajayi?

For the first time in quite a while, the Philadelphia Eagles may actually have too many good running backs.

With Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders soaking up the bulk of the team’s carries between the tackles, and Darren Sproles seemingly always finding a way to pick up half a dozen touches on the offensive side of the ball, Corey Clement has yet to earn an offensive touch over two active games; a trend that probably won’t change barring injury.

However, there’s a former Eagles rusher on the open market who just can’t seem to catch a break: Jay Ajayi.

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The Birds’ top young rusher for 14 games split over two seasons, Ajayi almost singlehandedly elevated Duce Staley‘s rushing assault to Super Bowl-level after being acquired by Doug Pederson at the 2017 Halloween-skirting trade deadline – amassing 592 yards and a touchdown on 112 carries.

While those numbers are admittedly a downgrade from Ajayi’s 2016 1,272 yards Tour de Force, it looked like the London-by-way-of-Boise State product could fill the role of the Eagles’ one-cut lead back for the foreseeable future.

That lasted four games.

Known for his extensive injury history both in the NFL and in college, Ajayi suffered yet another setback with a Week 5 torn ACL and finished out the Eagles’ admirable title defense on the sidelines in a boot.

Now one could make an argument that the Eagles could have recaptured their run-heavy 2017 magic had Ajayi remained healthy for the entire season, and road their feature back back to another Super Bowl, but unfortunately we will never know, as the team opted against re-signing the player they traded a fourth-round pick to acquire not a year and a half prior.

With months of rehab ahead and the duo of Sanders and Howard locked in as the Eagles new top-two rushers, Ajayi sat patiently for his next opportunity to arise for a chance to make an NFL team, and wait he did.

Outside of a single visit with the Indianapolis Colts – presumably because of his preexisting relationship with Frank Reich – Ajayi has been an afterthought in 2019 – his memory only kept alive by the occasional blog post suggesting that ‘X’ team should bring him in for a tryout.

But finally, finally, those unsolicited suggestions may come to an end, as it appears the second coming of Ajayi may soon be upon us.

According to Ian Rapoport, Ajayi has informed all 32 teams (including the Eagles) that he’s fully recovered and is ready to return to action, a promising development for one of the Birds’ Super Bowl standouts. While it remains unclear which teams specifically have interest in the 26-year-old’s services, based on the injuries that have already arisen over the first four weeks of the season, one could peg the New York Giants, Houston Texans, and the Green Bay Packers as logical landing spots.

And frankly, I hope he signs soon – even if it’s with the Giants.

Next. (Re-)signing Orlando Scandrick feels inevitable. dark

Call it Super Bowl bias, but I always appreciated Jay Ajayi’s swagger both on and off the field and felt as though he’s been handed a raw deal by the NFL despite amassing impressive production over his rookie contract. While the deal probably won’t be the generational wealth one would have assumed after 2016, and it obviously won’t be with the Philadelphia Eagles, the NFL is just better when England’s very own is on the field, as he’s an incredibly fun player to watch.

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